Estimated worldwide HIV infections: 60 094 374 at 8pm on Wednesday November 24 2004.
A lack of antiretroviral drugs is the biggest problem facing HIV/Aids programmes in Africa, says Robert Colebunders, a Belgian researcher at Uganda’s Mulago hospital. The United Nations says there are about 28-million HIV-positive people in Africa, but only 4% of those who need antiretrovirals receive them.
Uganda has lowered its HIV prevalence, but 75% of the 20 000 HIV-positive patients pay for their own drugs. The government, with help from the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, hopes to provide free drugs for 60 000 people, which is only half of the people who need the drugs. — Kaiser Network